THE MEANING OF TREASON THE MEANING OF TREASON BY REBECCA WEST LONDON MACMILLAN & CO. LTD 1949 COPYRIGHT FirstEd£Jion.SepJ,mber1949 R,pr,,"nted,Odober19..9 PRINTBD IN GREAT BRITAIN TO HAROLD ROSS NOTE Parts ofthis book relating to WilliamJoyceandJohn Ameryappeared in The New Yorker, and the Epilogue appeared in Harper's Magazine, and I reprint them here with astrong senseofgratitude to those peri odicals. ThematerialIcollectedfor the mostpartby attendingvarious civil trials and courts-martial; and Ihave supplemented this in certain casesby informationsuppliedby friends and relatives ofcertainpersons accused oftreachery. In caseswhere convicted persons seem likely to return to the outer world after a short period, and have not received much mention in the press, I have alluded to them by other names than their own. Since this book went to press, the Committee appointed in 1946 to investigate the court-martial system ofthe Army and Air Force has issued its report, in which it made a number of recommendations which have already been adopted. The passagesreferring to courts martial on pages 189-192 therefore describe conditions which either have ceased to exist or will soon disappear. The amateurishness deplored there is to be remedied by a reconstitution ofthe office of the Judge-Advocate-General: the verdicts and sentences are to be announced in open court without delay, and there is to be a Court Martial Appeal Court similar to the civil Court ofAppeal. When this book was publishedin Americait was frequently argued by reviewers sympathetic with totalitarianism that English traitors are no moreculpablethanthe Germanrefugees whoaided the Alliesagainst the Axis. I do not think this point would worry any reader accessible to argument, but if there be such an one I would remind him that Hitler was a traitor who had seized power by unconstitutional means and that therefore it was impossible to commit treason by working against him, and that, even had this not been so, German refugees had been deprived ofthe protection ofthe German state for racial and political reasons, and therefore owed it no allegiance. Indeed, all totalitarian states, by their contempt ofthe individual and its expres sion in their legal customs, forfeit their right to talk of protection, and so must be silent about treason. Loyalty is,in essence,abeautiful contract. R.W. VI CONTENTS I THE REVOLUTIONARY page 1 11 THE INSANE ROOT page 233 III THE CHILDREN page 269 EPILOGUE page 3]1 vii For hewasnumberedwithus,andhadobtainedpartofthisministry. Now thisman purchased afield with thereward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in themidst, andallhisbowels gushed out. And it wasknown unto allthedwellers atJerusalem; insomuch as thatfield is called in their proper tongue. Aceldama, thatistosay. Thefield ofblood. For it iswritten in thebook of Psalms, Lethishabitation be desolate, andletnoman dwell therein: andhisbishoprick letanothertake. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.1;17-20 I THE REVOLUTIONARY